Dearest Friends,
The Children
I want to tell you about the children that we are with this week. They have a very difficult life. Most struggle to understand what a father should be and do not know a mother’s love. Too many parents, desperate to feed their families, will offer their child to a man for an hour of pleasure. The child is sold for a kilo of rice or a kilo of beans. This is usually not a singular event.
What must a child think about their parents and their professed love when this is how they are treated! It is no surprise that as the girls grow into teenagers they choose to sell themselves for 50 cents. They have no idea that God has a purpose and a plan for them. Ask God to show us how to tell them about God’s love and God’s plan in a way they can understand.
Most children will not go beyond 4th grade as they must leave the area for future education. More their families usually needed them to find work and help support the family. This is a big responsibility for a 9 or 10 year old child. They have no childhood.
Most of the people read very little or not at all. This is another problem the missionaries face as most of the people cannot read God’s word.
You can see how much these children need to hear about Jesus Christ. They can only discover their true worth at the foot of the cross. Please pray for these children to have hearts and ears to hear God’s truth and God’s love.
Double Translation
Tonight, we had the sweet delight of hearing children pray out loud, calling on Jesus to save them. There is a large Japanese community here that is not easy to reach with the Gospel. We were the entertainment at a little 8 year old Japanese girl’s birthday party. Many adults attended either with their children or as friends of the family. Her parents are believers and that is why we were invited.
So that everyone could hear the Gospel and understand, we translated from English into Portuguese, into Japanese. God was kind to us. It worked beautifully! A little over a week from now, we will do a program at a Japanese fellowship. Please begin to pray for this opportunity, asking God to call more of these little ones to Himself. It is strange. Here I am in Brazil, seeing Japanese children trust in Jesus. This is more than I could have imagined.
MAF
Mission Aviation Fellowship partners with local churches, missions and community leaders. In the beginning of their work in Belem, the pastors had no vision for missions. Still, they are very hesitant. Outside of the city,there are areas here that have long belonged to the enemy and so they are hard to work in for Christians. In some places, evangelical churches have only been allowed to exist in the last year.
We will travel to these places. Since we cannot enter as an evangelistic team, we will be a logistic team. It is our job to manage the behavior of the children as they see the doctors. With this job description, we can enter these places of darkness and prayerfully, reflect the Father’s light.
Jakobine, our friend here in Belem, has been praying since February, asking God to send her people who know how to work across cultures. We pray that we can be part of her answer. She is been looking for people who can present the Gospel in different and unusual ways.
We will really need your prayers. Christians who have worked in this area this year complained that they could not sleep for the entire time they were there. They could feel the oppression. There has been much false teaching in this place from people who claimed to know Jesus, but taught people that you can be good enough for God. More, there is much spiritualism, this is similar to voodoo and came from slaves who were brought here from Africa. People in these places know almost nothing of God’s wonderful love story.
You Cannot Come
Just days before we arrived, the mayor who had invited us canceled the trip. You must work with a local person or you cannot go to these places. However, these leaders are not believers. The community became so excited that their leader invited us. They organized everything. Please pray that we will show the sweet spirit of Jesus Christ and shine as bright lights in the darkness.
Boats
Please pray that all the different boats we must use will be available. Please pray that we can get the equipment on the boats. Space is a concern. The boat trips are expected to take 8 hours. I have never had such an adventure and I am excited to see these dear children. I have also never been on a boat when I did not get sick. So, please pray. However, whether we get sick or not, it will be worth it all! It is an honor to be part of what the Father will do in these children’s lives. We are all very happy!
The River
The river is life to these people. I went today and bought a pair of shorts, because the river is also the bath. We will take a bath in the river most of the time, so we will be wearing our clothes. I am experiencing more “firsts”.
No Internet
You will probably not hear from us for a week or so because we are not expecting to have any internet access. Please pick a time each day and plan to pray for us. We will need your prayers. It is very hot and humid here and where we are going, it will be hotter. More, the places are very dark spiritually and the people have little or no Bible knowledge. Please hold us daily in your prayers! Each day, I will write down the wonders that we see our Father do, but you will have to wait just a little bit to see how He faithfully answered your prayers.
In Jesus,
Linda for
Gerson
Fabiana
Silvana
Sam